Observations from the outside….

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Monthly Archives: December 2012

I must admit that most the time I don’t know what to write on here. Too many thoughts and so few ideas. Hard to articulate that which is not in words. Things swirl in my mind as ideas, pure thought, and sometimes it’s hard to slow things down enough to type them out.

I have a unique perspective in society. My Aspergers keeps me permanently outside of society. I am in it, but not of it. Few people can appreciate that Scripture verse as those of us with Aspergers do. We do not swim through the current of the world, but instead it washes over us, past us. Combine with this my faith, intelligence, and general social ineptitude, and I usually feel like a stranger in what is supposed to be my own culture. Fads and trends confuse me. I see above peoples’ shallow motivations to things more lasting. I sometimes do not become aware of societal trends till they are waning or gone altogether. I see changes in society like the passing of the seasons. They come, go, repetitive and predictable.

People demand their iPad/phone/pod/other monosyllabic “p” word, their homes, cars, 4g, latest style, etc., then complain that they are not given a fair shake in life because other people have better things yet than them. We are a slave to things. What is it we envy from the rich? Why do we fault them for our condition? They have more than us, more money, nicer things, than we do, and we see that and envy. Since we’d rather do less than more, we complain like children because they have nicer toys than us and no one is buying them for us, too. It’s grade school politics all over again. We dump our money into causes that would purport to end this, instead of committing that money to things that would actually solve the problem itself. Those that claim inequality of income clamor to buy the latest gadget and their premium cable package instead of giving it to the family down the street facing foreclosure, or their local homeless shelter. They lack the perspective to see that this problem has lasted since there was civilization, and that “there will always be poor among you.” They do not lift their heads from the sands to see what is important, what matters.

And more than this, we do not see past the world that is around us. Those of us who are Christian (and really anyone religious) know that this world is not the end. We are eternal beings, and the span of our lives on this earth compared to the total span of our lives is an imperceptible speck. We will spend far more time in the hereafter than here. To clamor after such material concerns, to things so temporary as fashion and trend becomes absurd when seen in this light. It all becomes pointless, “a chasing after the wind.” We strive for the latest things, only for them to end up in boxes. We seek to buy that house, only to have another family live there after we sell it. We strive for career success, only to retire, be forgotten about, and our accomplishments be placed in the hands of other to do with what we please. Even those of us with academic aspirations. Out published works will someday just wind up collecting dust in a bound volume in some library sub-basement somewhere.

Anyways, thanks for tolerating what is basically cognitive vomit, but sometimes I have to get some things off my shoulders.